Happy Belated Seasons Greetings

I'm bringing you pictures of Owen last Christmas as I have just deleted 200 pictures of my sister's visit and this Christmas from my digital camera. Rather than cry, I'll post a cute picture of my kiddo and make myself feel really guilty for a really long time.







And here, as promised, is the Rowan scarf. When we went to the LYS on Heather's last day in town I found some great yarn in the sale bin (I love the sale bin) and wanted to find a good yarn to pair with it to make a scarf. This beauty is Trendsetter Yarn's Liberty in color #6, which is a ribbon type yarn that has a mix of brown and pink... and Rowan Chunky Print in Rage, which is a beautiful chocolatey brown.

I used size 17 needles for this baby (the largest I've used so far!), cast on 15 stitches and did a 1x1 rib so that it would look nice on both sides. Using needles this huge made this a very quick knit, a little under 2 1/2 hours.

It took 2 skeins of Liberty and a little over 1 skein of Chunky Print. The end result was a scarf that was about 8" wide and incredibly long. (I'm 5'6" and the scarf reaches my mid thigh.) It is warm and wonderful to wear.

When Mom saw the yarns she declared that she must have one! So I picked up some extra yarn for her and made the deal that if she purchased the yarn for her scarf, I would make it for her. The scarf shown is actually hers, I just cast on for my scarf tonight.

With holiday knitting done, I'm actually enjoying the thought of working on some projects for myself. I started this project for myself. My own little name for this is "Hopeful", because I honestly believe that next year I'll be holding a new little one in my arms. I'm putting all of my hopes and prayers into this project, and it has been a healing one for me. It has been hard to work on this, since I picked the pattern and purchased the yarn while I was pregnant a few months ago, but with every row I'm building myself up spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

I am a princess!

The Traditional Princess

You are generous, graceful, and practical with both
feet planted firmly on the ground. You tend to
be a little on the old-fashioned side. You
value home, hearth, and family life and love to
be of service to others.

Role Models: Snow White, Maid Marian

You are most likely to: Discover a hidden talent
for spinning straw into gold.


What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!

Well, Christmas Eve for my house, at least. Since our first married Christmas, Bryan and I have celebrated our own little Christmas on Christmas Eve because there were too many places to go on Christmas Day. We're continuing that tradition here in Missouri, even if we don't have four houses to go to on Christmas Day!

My holiday knitting, I'm glad to say, is done and wrapped up ready for giving! Mom's scarf and French Market Bag... Heather's gift bag was given to her last Saturday for her "Christmas" here with us... Jared & Isaac both have little crocheted zipper bags with their initials on them. Bryan, Owen and Dad aren't receiving any special holiday knits this year. Owen has his two new hats I made, Dad may or may not want a hat (he hasn't decided yet) and Bryan is a little amibiguous about wether or not he wants me to make him anything.

Isaac is all over the knitted hats I made Owen. I showed one to him and he very promptly asked, "Where is my hat? Are you making me one, too?" Well, how on earth could I pass that up?! He has decided that his hat is to be red, not orange like the scarf I made him, and it is most important that it has stripes. Isaac has an autism spectrum disorder and his clothes are a big deal to him. He prefers to only wear stripes and all the better if they are orange with stripes. We couldn't understand it for the longest time, but once he was diagnosed with Asperger's and we began to read up on it, we understood more.

Heather is back safely in San Diego, though she was delayed at St. Louis for an hour due to a repair that needed to be made on the plane. Apparently one of the oxygen mask releasing thingies was broken and it took an hour to be fixed. What was the solution? Duct tape. I'm dead serious. She said that the repair man finally duct taped the thing shut and then they moved the passengers from that row of seats and took off flying. I kid you not. Makes you feel all sorts of safe, no?

We stopped one more time at the LYS before taking her to the airport. A girl needs something to do while in the air, you know! She found some fun yarn. That is actually the name of it! Fun. It's a great green color and she'll be doing garter stitch. I showed her how to purl a couple of days before she left, but I think it'll be a little bit longer before she's ready to use it. She feels like she needs to get a little more time under her belt.

Hopefully I'll have a couple of pictures up tomorrow. I have about 200 of them sitting on my digital camera and I need to name and sort them before I do anything with them. There are some great pictures of Owen on Dad's new ATV. (He'd point to it and say, "My bike? BIG BIKE!!!")

But to wet your palette I have two words for you..... Rowan Scarf. Come back tomorrow to see!

I'm addicted

to hats.








I'm in love with them right now. I love that I can make a hat in a night. I love that I can stashbust and have a great project. It's like having my cake and eating it, too.






You know what else I love? I love that I've just mastered DPNs. I was so freaked out by them... but no longer! I can totally use them. I rock! Many thanks to Maddie at my LYS, Simply Fibers in Springfield, MO, for showing me how to use them. Woohoo!


I realize that I've been absent lately, but my sister is in town visiting from Costa Mesa, CA... in Orange County (The OC) for those of you who watch or know about the show. She flew in on Monday night and will be here until Tuesday, so I'm getting in all the time that I can with her. It's odd not having seen Heather for 3 months and knowing that I won't see her again for another 5 months once she's gone back home.

Mom was convinced that Heather needed to learn how to knit while she was here, so I begrudgingly went to the yarn store with them to help find a good starter scarf project for her... then Mom made me teach her how to knit and sit with them for 2 hours while we worked on our knitting. We're having an early Christmas while Heather is in town and so I'm sure I'll be knitting with them tonight and tomorrow, too... darn it.



I've completed a ton of projects lately! Yay! Heather's gift bag is finished and ready for gifting. Isaac's little bag is done and Jared's will need another hour of work to finish. Owen's hat is also done, as well as one for me... and I had enough yarn left over from my hat that I'm making Owen one to match. I used Plassard's Symphonie and I LOVE IT. It's the first yarn that Bryan has ever said, "That's really cool yarn!" Dad has even mentioned that he'd like a hat after seeing Owen's hat. I was so happy to hear it! Why? Because I'm addicted to hats.

Let it snow

Yesterday Bryan woke me up at 6:30am with the news that it had begun snowing while we slept! It snowed lightly a few days after Thanksgiving... but this was real snow... the doesn't melt upon hitting the ground kind of snow!

I promptly threw on some clothes (who needs to shower when there's snow?!), grabbed the camera and ran outside. I then ran back inside to grab a jacket and commenced with the picture taking.

It cracks me up that I live in a place where it snows. I never would have guessed it!

The view up our street.

If you're wondering why there are no pictures of an adorable Owen playing in the snow, there's a good reason why. There aren't any! It was 7 degrees outside, people. Owen stuck his face out the door and said, "Mama! Tah!" (That's his way of saying cold. Hot and cold are interchangeable at this point.) My boy has some sense in him.

For those who are wondering why they should joing SP7... some reasons for you.

From my SP6 final package... a sweet angel ornament. This may be handmade! I can't tell just because everything looks so perfect... and from seeing my SP's work that wouldn't surprise me!!!
The cutest measuring tape EVER and a magnet (that is currently holding adnorning my fridge). This is being displayed on a new WIP, my USPS mail carrier's Christmas gift. It's a scarf much like my own Therapy Scarf, but in purple. This is Trendsetter's Zucca which is so soft it's almost like a warm, fluffy cloud around your neck.
A little pick me up in the morning is what I need. (I'm soooo not a morning person.)
And the most wonderful gift... two hand embroidered monogrammed pillowcases. Isn't this beautiful?!

Thank you so much, Lana!!! You've been an amazing Secret Pal.
One last thing I can't help but show off.... Mom's scarf is done. :D The yarn is Reynold's Contessa which is Alpaca and Angora... I was in love! Three skeins made a looong scarf and the fringe is fun and a bit sparkly to add some fun.

The French Market Bag was felted last night and is blocking. The colors are great together and it was a fast knit....... but....

I'm not liking it. This one is not coming together like mine did. I'm so frustrated. I know that Mom will love it (she was over yesterday and saw it... drat!) but it's not the bag I'd hoped it would be.

Darn!

woohoo!

Secret Pal 7 sign ups have begun!!! I've had such a great time being and having a Secret Pal. I'd highly recommend that you sign up to this.

Baby, it's cold outside

16 degrees outside, to be precise. 16!!! That's really really cold to this San Diego girl. I was talking to a long time friend of mine yesterday who let me know that it was freezing there. Freezing to the point that some people didn't go into work. How cold was it in Southern California? 40 degrees.

I still think that 40 degrees is really really cold. It's just that now that I've experienced cold like this.... you know, 40 ain't that bad!

Knitting! Let there be knitting content! (And other crafts, too!)

I'm going to do this by project as I think that'll just be easier for me to keep track of.

Mom's French Market Bag:

I finished the sides of the bag on Saturday night and then finished two of the 1/2 handles on Sunday when the unthinkable happened. I ran out of yarn. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Never fear. I called my LYS on Monday morning and they had just gotten in a new shipment of my yarn and were winding and putting aside a skein for hubby to pick up after work. Phew! I still haven't picked the thing back up out of it's project bag... probably tomorrow.

Mom's Scarf:

Done! I finished it yesterday while Owen took his nap. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. I think it is beautiful and so warm.

Heather's Gift Bag:

I'm making a gift bag for Heather from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book. I purchased the required yarn and my first pair of Addi Turbos for this project on Saturday, tried casting on while in the store (I had time on my hands and the child was with Bryan.... I was good to go) and had a pain of a time trying to do it! Three tries later I gave up and consoled myself with a Starbucks. I cast on (successfully) last night and have a few rows done.

Jared & Isaac's Bags (Crocheted):

Isaac's project is a stashbuster! (Yay!) I'm using some yarn left over from his scarf (Cotton Ease in some bright orange color) and will be using some white yarn to stitch his name on the front of it. The bag is done except for needing to put the zipper in.

Jared's project I haven't started on yet. I purchased some Red Heart in bright red to make his bag. I'll use the left over yarn to make a fun holiday hat for Owen and Bryan.

Pepa's Irish Hiking Scarf:

I haven't made any new progress on this. I'm not too terribly concerned about getting this out in time for Christmas. Why? Because 1) I know she won't stress about it and 2) she lives in a place where it is 110 degrees in the summer. The woman doesn't desperately need a scarf right now.

I also have some ornaments to make. They're 2 kits from Bucilla and involve some stitching and fun beads. If there's time, I'd also like to make a scarf for my mail carrier. She's a sweet girl and I feel sorry for her having to be out in cold weather like this!

SECRET PAL REVEALED!!!

Well, folks, my Secret Pal has revealed herself! I received my reveal package from her on Friday and it was full of fun stuff!!! Bryan still has the package in the car (I had to show my Mom) but I'll get pictures tonight. You won't believe the beautiful handmade items she made me. (I won't tell and spoil the surprise yet.)

My Secret Pal is Lana and she lives just about 20 minutes away from me! You'll never believe it, but she actually saw me at our LYS just a couple of weeks ago!!! She was trying to help my Mom and the store owner see how she can get gauge on Mom's project. I totally remember seeing Lana, though I didn't know who she was at the time.

Hi, Lana! I'm so glad that you're my Secret Pal! I hope to see you again, soon!!!! :D

Have you ever had a project...

That is going so well that you're really not wanting to give up and are secretly hoping you can keep for yourself without anyone noticing? Yeah? Well, that's me right now. Mom's French Market Bag is really going well and I've fallen in love with the yarns I'm using to make it.
The base is Cascade 220 in a beautiful rich chocolate brown and the top is a handspun, hand-dyed wool I bought from a vendor at Silver Dollar City. The lady's name is Donna and you can find her at Dewberry Ridge. I've actually already contacted her to see about the possiblity of emailing her a picture and having her try to replicate the colors. It's a long shot, I know, but I almost cry whenever I think of giving this thing up!

(By the way, I love the Cascade 220 and am trying to find a sweater pattern for me that uses it, or something like it. It is great to work with and they have a nice selection of colors.)

It's that time of year, people. The time of year when you start feeling like you have to decorate your house before you're the only one without lights up. You know exactly what I mean... don't try to hide it! So we're getting ourselves into the festive mood and bought ourselves a Christmas tree last night. It started SNOWING while we were out! SNOW! This San Diego girl was giddy and a wee bit scared that she lives in a place that has the ability to snow. I still was so excited and called both my mom and sister on the way home to let them know about our little Norman Rockwell moment. Snow while choosing a Christmas tree. It's a Kodak moment!
While decorating the tree tonight, I came across this littel beauty. Never before have I had much more than a decent amount of appreciation for this stocking. Until this year. This is a handknit stocking made by my great-grandmother's SIL.
And of course, what kind of knitter would I be if I didn't sneak a peak at the inside of it. Beautiful, no?

I can't believe it's December 1st already. My sister flies in from San Diego in 10 days and I can't wait to see her. I'm disappointed that I couldn't do Soleil for her, but it'll just have to wait until her birthday in July and until I can find a yarn that I like better. I will have a chance to make the gift bag from Last Minute Knitted Gift, though, which will somewhat make up for not having a tank top. (It's almost the same!)

Thankfully, I didn't commit myself to making every person in my family a handmade gift. I'm still really up and down emotionally, and I don't need anything to make this Christmas any more difficult. Away from a lot of family, away from 99% of my friends, first Christmas in a new state, and a baby that was supposed to be due December 24th that made it's journey heavenward early in life. It's going to be a low stress Christmas this year, and I'm very much okay with that.